Having raised the issue of Broadband provision in rural parts of Thurrock on the floor of the House of Commons and met with BT to discuss the issue, Stephen Metcalfe MP confirms that Bulphan with be included in the bid for public funded Broadband.
In correspondence today from Essex County Council, who are leading the bid on behalf of Essex, Southend and Thurrock, Stephen was told:
“Bulphan is covered by the Essex BDUK project, I’ve seen it on the map in our data room. It is currently not down for BT to cover it under their Infinity programme as it isn’t commercially viable for them, therefore it gets picked up by BDUK funding as a Market 1 area eligible for support under state aid exemption. It may change if BT decides to include the exchange and cabinets for the village (should it become commercially viable) which would only mean it gets done by them commercially rather than relying on our public funding. I think that is very unlikely however as BT are not planning to increase their investment outside of BDUK match funding.”
Stephen commented: "This is fantastic news.I will now be seeking confirmation that other rural areas in my constituency are also included in the BDUK plan."
